Congress plans rally to promote retail FDI

To make people aware about its policies on economic reforms, the Congress party will hold a rally at Ramlila Ground on October 28. Senior Congress leaders said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi will address the rally.

"A number of rallies will be organised in the coming days to educate people about the benefits of the reform measures taken by the Centre. The rally at the Ramlila Ground will be a part of the campaign to explain the benefits of foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail and other reform measures of the UPA government," chief minister Sheila Dikshit said.

In a meeting last week, the Congress Working Committee had decided to hold public rallies across the country to propagate the UPA's economic policies. The CWC had asked Dikshit to organise the first such rally in Delhi.

Addressing a gathering, Dikshit said her government would amend the existing agricultural produce marketing committee act to ensure implementation of FDI in retail at the earliest.

Sharing the stage was union commerce minister Anand Sharma, who said that the decision to allow FDI was keeping in view the ground realities of the country. Dikshit said the international model suggests that all those countries that opened up multi-brand retail to FDI added huge amount of employment.

In India, it is expected to generate at least one million jobs over the next few years, she added.